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Microsoft is gearing up for the launch of its next tablet, the Surface Pro, on Feb. 9.

The Surface Pro comes in two variations, one with 64 GB of storage and one with 128 GB of storage. But as The Verge points out, the amount of free space users actually get is far less.

The 64 GB model will only have about 23 GB of free space, The Verge confirmed with Microsoft. The 128 GB model will have about 83 GB of free space.

Here's the problem.

Microsoft is marketing the Surface Pro as an alternative to a traditional laptop. It may look like a regular tablet, but the Surface Pro has all the same guts and specs as many regular laptops crammed inside. The Surface Pro also has the full version of Windows 8, meaning it can run older Windows apps designed for Windows 7.

But it borders on a joke for Microsoft to only offer a maximum of 83 GB of free space on a device that's designed to replace your regular laptop.

Even worse, the 64 GB model costs $899 and the 128 GB model costs $999. But you'll have to pay another $120 if you want to buy the special keyboard cover and get the full Surface experience.

So for a grand total of $1,019 (at the cheapest), Microsoft is only giving you 23 GB of free space. That is a terrible value. If you're going to use the Surface Pro as your primary machine as Microsoft intends users to, even 83 GB of space on the top-of-the-line model is not going to be enough.